The Real Difference Between Success and Failure

Friday, March 27th, 2015

Within the last couple of weeks, I’ve had two friends tell me about how things are really working out for them. Their lives and their businesses had essentially “turned the corner” and what used to be an absolute struggle was now happening almost effortlessly.

When I inquired as to why each one thought the shift had occurred, both responded that they had no clue. They couldn’t pinpoint a certain action or event that had changed the tides, so to speak. All they knew was that they had changed and for that they were grateful.

I understood completely what they were talking about as I had experienced the same sort of happening myself. I had just started one of my businesses and I think I made like $500 the first six months.

I kept asking myself, “What am I doing so wrong?”

I knew I was good at what I did and I seemed to be taking all of the right actions, yet nothing was working. I even asked others in the same field what they thought I could do to improve my results. They all assured me that I was doing the right things, which made the whole matter that much more baffling.

Fast forward nine months and things really started to click. Everything was coming together and what used to be difficult now seemed to be, well, easy. Work picked up and things were falling right into place. Why?

I pondered this question myself for quite some time, trying to figure out if I had done something different that had caused the scales to tip in my direction. However, I had done everything the same since day one, so I couldn’t say definitively that “this” worked or that “that” made a difference. All I knew is that things had changed. And they had changed for the better.

This leads me to believe that the real difference between success and failure is simply staying the course. It involves keeping yourself focused and never giving up. It means continuing to forage ahead when all you want to do is quit because it just feels so darn hard.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that the best course of action is to trudge forward, as sometimes what you are doing isn’t going to work. That is where checking in with others helps. So, when they are telling you that you are doing what you are supposed to be doing and yet you are still struggling, that is just a sign that greater things lie ahead. You simply have to wait for them to arrive, which they will do when they are ready.

It also requires learning from your mistakes and taking new courses of actions based on the lessons that they taught you. It is realizing what is likely to push you ahead if you just keep working at it and what isn’t going to get you where you want to go.

The truth is, if you keep working toward what it is you want, you will eventually get it. It may not be today. It may not be tomorrow. It may not be next month. But as long as you keep moving ahead, success will certainly be yours—in whatever it is you pursue.